Cerberus sells Tokyo land parcel to Shimizu for $127 mln-sources

Reuters

By Junko Fujita and Taro Fuse

TOKYO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm CerberusCapital Management LP has sold a 1,900 square meterblock of land in Tokyo's posh Aoyama shopping district toJapanese general contractor Shimizu Corp for 13 billionyen ($127 million) as the U.S. investment fund tries to recoupgains from its Japanese assets.

The land was owned by Cerberus' fully owned real estatedeveloper, Showa Jisho Co, and is located in the area thathouses such global luxury brands as LVMH, Bulgari andCeline. It currently is used as a parking lot.

The Urban Renaissance Agency, a government controlledproperty manager, sold an adjacent 2,500 square meter lot to aprivate investor in March last year for 5.6 billion yen. Theprice Cerberus sold the lot shows a gain in land prices inTokyo.

Cerberus is in the process of cashing out its Japaneseassets it purchased the early 2000s. The U.S. firm has agreed tosell its stake in a Japanese railway operator Seibu Holdings Incthrough an initial public offering.

Earlier this month it sold its stake in a property operatorKokusai Kogyo Co for about 140 billion yen to the company'sfounding family.